Friday, January 13, 2012

Finished Wythe-Craft restore and couple of unidentified scoop chairs and ottos...

Here's the conclusion to the Wythe-Craft pieces I recently acquired. First up, how the sanded top stained...


The color turned out great and here's the tip to getting most of the 60's walnut veneer pieces to match the rest of the finish on the cabinet when you only need to strip the tops. The Minwax Early American stain over the walnut veneer is almost a dead match for 80-90% of the pieces I have top stripped. There have been a couple of darker pieces that I've had to custom blend by mixing in some walnut stain with the early american, but it still makes for a great base stain and is normally a good match by itself.


After the stain dried down thoroughly I dusted and blew off any wayward particles and put three coats of satin spray lacquer. The satin is a good match for the original luster of the original finish. When I refinish cocktail and end tables I will more often use a polyurethane finish although it's a little harder to get this to flow out as easily as the lacquer. I've also found that to achieve the same degree of gloss as the lacquer finish it's better the use the semi-gloss urethane as it dries a bit more matte than the lacquer.



Hard to argue with the results! Yes, I was very happy with how this piece worked out. The bar pieces also cleaned up very nicely as well. These are going to make some one very happy!


Next up, a pair of scoop style MCM chairs and ottomans. The chairs came sans the seat and back cushions. These are nicely constructed pieces and have really nice lines, however they have no manufacture markings anywhere on them. I would really like to see what the original cushions looked like so I can replicate. I have loads of reference books on MCM furniture and can't find anything close. Any one out there seen this style before and can recommend a link??




The shells themselves are pretty comfortable to sit in and when I figure out how to handle the cushion debacle, they are going to be sweet! I may have to run these by my upholstery pros to see if they can be of any assistance. I'm sure they have seen so many pieces they might have some ideas on how to handle. Vinyl is in pretty good shape with only a couple of nicks and the frames are rock solid and just need a little TLC to bring them back up to speed.
And here's the Heywood Wakefield king storage headboard I just picked up, or should I say my wife picked up as I had to staff the store. It's a M790 6/6 and I've found these hard to come by and usually too rich for my budget when I do see. Can't wait to get a start on this one. I don't think I'll have any problem finding this a new home when finished. H/W never made a queen bed, only twins, full size and a few styles of king size.



The "new" Heywood Wakefield company does offer one queen bed online in the "dog bone" Encore line and I would guess it's probably one of their best selling items despite the very chunky price tag they are commanding for it.
If someone recognizes the black MCM chairs above, I love to hear from you...
Post again soon.








11 comments:

  1. Re: Scoop Chair Cushions - Black suede or any dark colored suede (maybe match to the wood?) would look fantastic. The construction looks like Baumritter to me.

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  2. Mr. Mod, Thanks for the input and places to search. Suede would likely look pretty swell on these. I sure would like to see the originals for form and thickness. Sorry to hear about your grandmother...

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  3. The Wythe-Craft pieces are fabulous! The chair and ottoman look so familiar to me, but I just can't put a name to them. Maybe it will come to me when I'm not trying so hard to remember.

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  4. Dana, Thanks for your nice comments on the Wythe-Craft! I too think I should know why the chairs look familiar. I haven't as yet had time to followed Mr. Mods possible attributon to Baumritter but if I do I will pass along. Hope the new space is working out great for you!

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  5. Dana & A Mod - They have a real "Dux" look but in a knock off kinda way. Is that maybe what you were thinking of? In any event I'd love to have them. They look great now, can't wait to see them with some cushions! Those armrests are very distinctive. And thanks so much for sharing the Minwax secret! I bet it's nice for the new owners of your treasures to be able to see a little bit of the effort you've made to bring life back to these things.

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  6. Oh Snap.

    Found it!

    It's no big deal...it's just what I do. :)

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    1. Mr. Mod, You are the "modman". I think you definetely nailed it! Thanks a bunch! Now I can move forward...

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  7. Wow, beautiful! Yep, Early American is one of my favorites. That chair is to die for!

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  8. Rahn, I'm getting ready to post about another early american success story and yes I too love the chairs. I actually have a pair and a pair of the ottomans as well.

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  9. I have an old solid oak wythe-craft "Dude Ranch" bunk bed set. I'm refinishing it and would love to find some of the original steer head and ring, black hardware. Does anyone have any info?

    Thanks,
    Deano
    deano135@yahoo.com

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    1. Deano, this is an older post on my blog and you may want to repost your queston on one more recent. Sorry I can't help with your hardware search but if you post into a more recent one there may be someone who will pick up and be of help...

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